WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The huge Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the nation's capital was filled to overflowing Sunday for a Mass in memory of John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Lauren Bessette.

Bishop William E. Lori, auxiliary bishop of Washington,
described young Kennedy as a man of "easy grace and
elegance," who was "a symbol of a generation coming into its
own."

Church spokesmen said 4,500 people filled the church, which Lori called an unusually large gathering.

The bishop said the nation will mourn well into the future
the loss of Kennedy and the Bessette sisters, "lives that
were bright with promise and embedded in our national
conscience."

Kennedy, his wife, Carolyn, and her sister Lauren
were killed July 17 in a private plane crash off Martha's
Vineyard.

Lori praised Kennedy as gifted, charitable and humble,
despite the media glare that followed him wherever he went.

Lori added that Carolyn and Lauren, "while not completely in
the spotlight, were women of accomplishment in their own right, and their passing is mourned not only by those
who knew them, but by millions of people the world over."

Celebrating the Mass in their honor, Lori prayed "eternal
life" for Kennedy and the Bessettes.